Investments

The new program provides advisor coverage for B and C clients as well as recruitment gaps.

The Boston-based company launched the suite of services to help advisors meet regulatory requirements

In what could be a first of it’s kind action in the municipal bond market, the Internal Revenue Service has suspended tax-exempt bond attorney Michael W. McCall for at least 24 months from practicing before it for writing a false tax opinion.

The low interest rate environment is helping keep fixed annuity rates unattractively low, creating interest in income-paying alternatives.

Investment managers rely on an array of high-fangled electronic tools to execute the most complex program trading and algorithmic trading strategies. But such is not the case when it comes to managed accounts.

Clear guidance and safe-harbor relief would ease industry concerns, Goldbrum says.

It is not often one hears someone nicknamed “Wild” Bill exhorting patience.

The Valley Forge, Pa., company's decision comes just a few months after a similar move by Charles Schwab.

Indexes will focus on required business performance standards required to support their current stock prices.

Industry net income noted as the single-largest factor in the 2009 improvement.

Dow Jones has added four new indexes to its growing family of required business performance (RBP) indexes. The new indexes are designed to measure the likelihood that companies can deliver the performance required to support their current stock prices.

It used to be that dividend-paying stocks and stock funds were seen as fit only for orphans and widows. But following the market volatility of 2008 and the current uncertainty of the low-yielding bond market, investing in companies that pay dividends is now seen as a prudent choice.

Connecticut's financial hub is struggling to rebound in the wake of the recession, but planners hope the area's relatively low real estate rates and high vacancies could attract jobs back to the area.

Overall sales of annuities though bank holding companies were up slightly at $2.62 billion in 2009, according to the latest Michael White-American Bankers Insurance Association Bank Annuity Fee Income Report. The results, however, were skewed somewhat by BHC-in-name-only Morgan Stanley.

Women are living longer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are prepared for the risks of longevity.

Two veterans of the hedge fund world are touting a product they say lets advisers focus less on investment decision-making and more on business development and client service.

Jackson National Life Insurance has expanded the sub-accounts available for its variable annuities and variable universal life products with the addition of six of the funds in the American Funds Insurance Series.

Ameriprise Financial has put the finishing touches on its nearly $1 billion purchase of Bank of America’s long-term asset management business Columbia Management. The original agreement dates back to last September.

Working within existing regulations for 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans, Nationwide Financial Services is proposing 401KIncome, a new choice for workplace savings that includes an annuity option.

Putnam Investments has appointed Kelly Marshall as head of investment product management.